Welkom in Nederland

Big news from Murdoch Photo: I've relocated to Eindhoven, the Netherlands!

We're busy exploring the local towns, trying to learn Dutch, and of course bicycling everywhere. Soon, there will be time for photography!

Props from the City

Hey, I got a mention in The City's Art Review of A Photographer's Path 11 at High Falls Gallery.

...Michael J. Murdoch's dreamy pinhole pics...

That's pretty cool. Now get over there and see the show -- it's quite interesting, with a lot of variety. It is a bit overcrowded, much like the Image City show, but in contrast to that show, there's much more floor space, so you're not forced too close to the images.

Photo Terrorism

Thomas Hawk, longtime defender of photographers' rights, posted on Flickr about a [London] Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism advertising campaign. From their website:


The small text reads:

"Terrorists use surveillance to help plan attacks, taking photos and making notes about security measures like the locations of CCTV cameras. If you see someone doing that, we need to know. Let experienced officers decide what action to take."

Wow, I find this quite disturbing! The London police are asking the general public to begin viewing photographers with a suspicious eye! I really hope travel photography, which involves a lot of watching scenes and crowds and patiently waiting for the right light, doesn't get mistaken for loitering, casing, and planning of terror. If any bystander happens to think you look suspicious, perhaps because advertising campaigns like these put people on edge, should you expect the cops to come question you, detain you, perhaps search or seize your camera?

I know that an easy response to this is, "well, if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about." To which I say, I'm already worried! I've been hassled by security guards and policemen for taking photographs in public, which is not a crime, even without such encouragement to report such behavior as suspicious. The last thing the craft of photography needs is propaganda suggesting it is deviant!

A Photographer's Path, #11

Good news! High Falls Fine Art Gallery (warning: their website is waaaay out of date!) just announced their next exhibit, A Photographer's Path 11, which opens March 16 and runs through April. Should be a good show, with quite a list of photographers (I'm in the middle somewhere!). The gallery space is really great, as well -- it's an old mill building overlooking high falls in downtown Rochester, with a nice airy ceiling and old brick walls. Here's their announcement:

A Photographer’s Path 11

High Falls Fine Art Gallery
60 Browns Race, Rochester NY 14614
Opening Sunday March 16, 3-6pm through April 27, 2008

Doug Barton-Smith, Kurt Baxter, Steve Bernhardt, Margaret Beth Bigelow, Patrick Cain, Claudia Quinn Cashman, Bruno Chalifour, Doug Chanin, Wendy S. Cohen, Sally Crews, Sergio Cruz, Di DeCaire, Tierney DeCaire, John R. Domm, Diane Ercolano, Bruce C. Elling, Richard Evans, Trude Fitelson, John Funt, Ron Gouger, Dwight Harrienger, Goldee Hecht-Meyer, Joseph Ho, Michael J. Hochadel, Susan Fredericks Hodes, Jane Hopkins, Jeno Horvath, Christopher Hubbell, Doug Infarinato, Deborah Johnson, Bonk Johnston, Hope Junot, Andrew E. Jurman, Nigel Kent, Thomas A. King, Joan Krauszer, JFK/AJVK, David Kotok, Mildred Lampley, Susan Lander, Dean Lawrence, Kim Lesslie, Dan Link, Larry Lynch, Beth Lyons, Ken Marsh, Jayla McNair, Ted Miller, Theresa Miller, Megan Monday, Michael J. Murdoch, Peter Nelson, Sheila Nelson, Dan Neuberger, Daniel J. Nolan, Michael N. O’Leary, Brian Peterson, Marianne Pojman, Richard Quataert, William F. Rapp, Gail W. Rivera, Richard Rowe, Ann Rumrill, Thomas Schaeffer, Leslie Schiff, Chuck Schug, Thomas Scott, Ellen Sherwood, Joe Sotelo, Scott Stahl, Todd Stahl, Barbara Stocklader, Peter Supinski, Gary Thompson, Phyllis Thompson, Sandra Turner, Sharon Turner, Monika Ueffinger, Alicia Vandevorst, Kay Vergo, Sheridan Vincent, George Wallace, David K. Walter, Charmaine Walters, Jacqueline Wells, Gloria Marie Weyerts, Kris Whiteman, John Williamson

Jake Adams Solo The Man and Object High Falls Museum

Wednesday through Friday 10 am – 5 pm

Saturday 12 noon – 6 pm, Sunday 1 pm – 5 pm

Information 585.325.2030

Open First Fridays until 9

www.centerathighfalls.org

murdochphoto.com

After some fits and starts, murdochphoto.com, home of Michael J Murdoch Photography, is online. It's a little mishmashy, with some table-based layout, CSS tidbits, Javascript, and Flash... I hope to tidy up the programming soon, but in terms of content and look, it's what I was aiming for -- a great window into the world of MJM Photo. Take a look!

I Print From Home!

E.T. had "E.T. Phone Home." Today's digital photographers have "I Print From Home."

I just received some prints from http://iprintfromhome.com/ , a relatively-local business in Buffalo, NY. They made me four 12x18 prints on silver-halide (AgX!) Kodak Endura paper (digital chromogenic prints, C-prints, traditional prints, choose your favorite moniker). I sent them two files and had them print a glossy (F surface) and a metallic version of each. This was my "trial run" to see how they do -- print quality, shipping time, etc.

And... I was quite impressed! The prints came in a flat box, well padded with bubble wrap and sandwiched in corrugated cardboard, which left them perfectly flat with no dinged corners or anything to disturb their perfect, shiny surface. The shipping was great, 1-day via UPS, which makes sense as they are only about 70 miles away.

They also sent me their "sample pack" of glossy, matte, metallic photo papers and their fine art inkjet paper, as well as a 35mm slide, printed with a test target, faces, grays etc. I'm pleased, and I'll probably order from them again!

Peter's Pick

So I alluded to getting a "Peter's Pick" in the ICPG Elswhere exhibit. ICPG's Newsletter came out today and with it, the full text of Peter Marr's comments. This is what he had to say about my photo, Whorls Above:

This is just an incredible well-seen and photographed image. The design is phenomenal, eye-catching and dramatic, yet maybe controversial to a few, as the leading element bisects the picture vertically. I see exact division of the photographic space as a great strength, with the eye being led immediately in and upward with the powerful last of the sailboat, strongly supported by all of the ropes, bringing your eye to the center focus of the base of the mainsail, a sail that dominates the left hand side of the photograph. This sail is so beautifully captured by the photographer, and it exhibits great strength and a soaring presence, admirably balancing the great power of the main mast. The intriguing "shadowed" designs on the mainsail are also a great complement to the overall image. The crowning glory of this photograph is the clouds in the sky, which occupy the majority of the space on the right hand side. Against a lovely blue sky, the clouds create a circular, powerful motion, and this dramatic sweep of the clouds offers a wonderful contrast against all of the vertical elements in the mast and sails. The circular motion of the clouds takes the eye continually back to the mast and the mainsail, and integrates the picture so movingly. The image is superbly printed and is just a delight to look at and to absorb all the nuances of the elements in the print that contribute to such an outstanding picture. After studying all of the 160+ prints in this exhibition, all of exceptional quality, I always came back unhesitatingly to Whorls Above as my favourite picture.

Very kind words! And coming from Peter Marr, a well known photographer and Kodak retiree, they mean a lot. Thanks, Peter!

ICPG Opening Reception

Yesterday was the opening reception for "Elsewhere" at Image City Photography Gallery. Wow, there are a lot of prints on the wall there, and on the dividers, and on the ceiling... yikes! The reception was crowded, mostly with people I didn't know.

But, the big news is that one of my photos, Whorls Above, was named a "Peter's Pick." Peter Marr chose his favorite (I should say favourite; he's English) 5 of the 160-ish images and wrote a little blurb to post next to them. Quite an honor! Interestingly, my Pick was hung at approximately knee-level on a divider... not exactly optimal, but at least with Peter's comments there people seemed to be noticing it.

"Elsewhere"

Good news! I had two prints accepted into Image City Photography Gallery's first juried show, Elsewhere. It should be a hoot!

These are the images:
Whorls Above

The Descent
Lots of blue, lots of symmetry... just what I like to see.